EPS now 'default' as almost 1bn items dispensed electronically in 2021/22
The electronic prescription service (EPS) is now the “default” method for prescribing and dispensing prescriptions in England, NHS Digital has said.
“Almost one billion” prescription items were dispensed electronically in the last 12 months, NHS Digital announced yesterday (February 8).
This means that the EPS “is now the default method for prescribing and dispensing prescriptions in primary care in England”, with less than one in 20 still paper based, it said.
The number of electronic prescriptions sent to community pharmacies has “almost doubled” in the past five years, NHS Digital added.
Read more: Rollout of Welsh electronic prescription service could begin this summer
“Revolutionary” service
NHS England chief pharmacy and medicines information officer Rahul Singal said that he’d “be pushed to think of another national system that’s had more success”.
He highlighted “the number of transactions that are made via the service and how much it’s revolutionised practice in general practice and community pharmacy”.
“Our next focus is to introduce EPS into more care settings, including more health settings such as hospital outpatient departments so the benefits can be realised for even more clinicians and patients across the NHS,” he added.
Read more: Online pharmacies ‘disrupting the market’, wholesalers told
